Originally Posted by
Lambourne
No worries, I understand your concerns. There is no 100% fix in any merger scenario. We have done some unjust things to our furloughed/returnees in regards to pay longevity that still irritates me and I was not even affected. If I can count correctly there have been very few complete airline mergers that did not result in furloughs at some point down the line.
I agree with your sentiments about allowing competition weed out the survivors. It would be my hope that with the UAL route structure we could survive with a decent management team. ORD/SFO/LAX/IAD along with the Pacific and tons of LHR slots do help the airline. If we could just get someone to manage the assets. The Star Alliance is large and has good breadth of service. With some right moves perhaps we make it as a stand alone. Who knows it is a crap shoot no matter what happens. Reading the news articles they make the UAL/CAL marriage the most complimentary. Strong NYC presence, IAH for launching Latin/South America and the effects of being weeded out of Skyteam by DL/NW make a compelling combination.
Like you said we are all along for the ride and I would hope that if we are riding in the same car we can avoid throwing rocks at each other.
As for the PacMan, I thought it was funny and understand you were just having a laugh.
Cheers,
Lambourne
I live next to one of your hubs, and am surrounded by UAL people. With the exception of my neighbor's dog consistently crapping in my yard (started waaay before the merger mania) I'd like to think we all get along just fine. You mentioned the furloughee longevity, something I just learned about on a commute the other day from one of your hires from 2000 (or around then). He told me he was on Year 3 pay after nearly a 5 year furlough! What gives? I'm not sure what CAL's policy is on this, but perhaps I should familiarize myself.